6th European Championships

Well generally I'm feeling pretty; dissapointed, angry, gutted...... a few other adjectives too! I had a great swim and bike coming off at the front off a group of 5 in 2nd place just 3mins down on 1st.

To cut a long story short I tried to run with the Belgian who eventualy finished 2nd but was running too fast for me and for him (although he managed to hold on for 2nd), anyway my legs really started to give up, I lost touch with the Belgian at 15km, by 20km was really slowing, at 25km was in 4th then got passed by another 2 guys, And finished 6th, I could do nothing about it!! My legs were completely gone!

But I was running stupidly fast for the first 10km, stupid stupid! Really stupid because I know the race plan and it is to stay steady for at least the first 10k. I think I gave away a medal by trying to win the race. I got to within about 35secs of the leader at 15km but I'd ran too hard and I was wasted by then.

Well I have made another mistake, I suppose I learn from the mistakes and it makes me a better athlete in the long run. I just really knew this lesson before I made this mistake, which is why I feel really stupid!

Bella did fantastic she was just 1min off the win! Unfortunately 2 Italians were 2nd and 3rd, and they drafted the whole bike, and when I say drafted they weren't just a bit too close they were sitting on like it was a drafting race! Unbelievable! For the draft busters to do nothing(I think there was only 1 but still he was out there) is even more unbelievable! They seemed not even bothered, so Bella was out there on her own while these 2 Italians get off fresh legged(and closer to her than they should be) and run her down and out sprint her at the finish, well all I can say is she was and is very angry! Rightly so!

Drafting: Either it is non drafting or it is drafting, if non drafting then make it 10m and enforce it strictly, give out the penalties, or just make it drafting then we all know where we stand!

I could go on but come on, please, wether it is the BTA, ITU, WTC or any other organisation, if it is non drafting then enforce it!!

I can feel my fitness getting better but I will have to show it by being a bit smarter in the races!

Thanks for reading.
Stephen
Please have a look at my site and click through to some of the sponsors;)
www.stephenbayliss.net

Haven't Blogged for a while.

I have done a fair bit of racing though since the last blog. Oh I haven't blogged for a couple of reasons; 1 have been training very hard, and 2 have not had internet in our apartment until now, so it has been a bit difficult with internet access.

So I', in Leysin Switzerland, training hard under the guidance of Brett Sutton, and with the great group of athletes he has here.

It has to be the best training enviroment I have been in ever! It really is what have wanted, I am completely focused on training and improving each and everyday, with as few distractions as possible, it is training heaven!

So race wise, I did an ITU LOng Distance race in Lorient about 4weeks ago, finished 2nd to a Brazilian lad I train with here, Renaldo Colucci. We both had a great trip. Renaldo, Bella and myself drove to the west of france and we did as well as we could, as Bella won the womens race too!

Then we had an epic training week to Alpe D'Huez we cycled there did the triathlon up the climb, then cycled home all over about 6days. I came 6th in the race, Renaldo won, and Bella was 2nd in the Womens.

Then last weekend was the big one, EmbrunMan, it is a mountanous bike ride 185km in total the big climb being the col D'Izoard, I was happy in the end with 8th, Renaldo again did great coming 2nd and Bella also was fantastic as she had some major wheel problems she finished 2nd, and poss would have won without the problems.

I recommend having a look at the race site, www.embrunman.com this race is a real challenge, if you think IM Lanzarote is hard, this race is doubly hard!!

Well that is all for now, thanks for reading, next race is Euro Long Dist champs on 26th Aug.
Stephen
www.stephenbayliss.net